Michael Novogradac is the managing partner in the San Francisco office of Novogradac & Company LLP. He has more than 25 years of experience specializing in affordable housing, community development and renewable energy. Mr. Novogradac’s focus is in real estate taxation and accounting. He is the author of numerous real estate-related tax and accounting articles and books, including the New Markets Tax Credit Handbook and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Handbook. A frequent speaker at tax credit conferences and forums throughout the country, Mr. Novogradac is very active in advocating for the inclusion of affordable housing, historic, new markets and renewable energy tax credits in federal and state policy and broadcasts a weekly podcast that focuses on tax credit issues. In addition, he serves as advisor on industry and governmental affairs for the NMTC Working Group and the LIHTC Working Group. Mr. Novogradac also serves on the executive committee of the Housing Advisory Group and the boards of directors of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition, the National Housing Conference, the NMTC Coalition and Historic Tax Credit Coalition, as well as being an original member of the National Multifamily Housing Council’s Affordable Housing Committee. He previously served on the boards of directors of A Hand Up and the Berkeley Chess School, the board of governors of the California Housing Consortium, as an advisory board member of the National Leased Housing Association, the Federal Housing Policy Council and Housing and Development Reporter. He was also a member of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association NMTC Steering Committee, the National Trust for Historic Preservation Tax Policy Council and the California State Treasurer's Housing Finance Advisory Board, as well as a board member and chief financial officer of the Housing Industry Foundation. Mr. Novogradac graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He received an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. He is licensed in California, Oregon, Maryland and Texas as a certified public accountant.

Bob Rapoza has more than three decades of experience as a professional lobbyist. He is an expert on the federal budget and appropriations process, with special expertise in federal housing and community development policy. His knowledge and desire to ensure programs for disadvantaged communities and populations are not only sustained, but are able to reach their goals and have fueled his drive and success in securing and increasing funding for his clients’ work–even in a difficult budget environment. Mr. Rapoza has been responsible for numerous legislative accomplishments, including saving federal rural housing and community development programs from budget cuts, establishing the Intermediary Re-lending Program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and securing funding for community development programs at the Department of Health and Human Services. At the Department of the Treasury, he effectively steered the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program to enactment. Mr. Rapoza also has earned recognition in the education and job training policy arena. He created a YouthBuild program at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and guided its more recent transfer to the Department of Labor. He became involved with community development issues while serving with the Massachusetts Department of Community Affairs. After moving to Washington, D.C., Mr. Rapoza held executive positions with the Rural Housing Alliance, the National Rural Housing Coalition (which he continues to serve as executive secretary and legislative director) and the Rural Coalition, before establishing Rapoza Associates in 1984. Mr. Rapoza has served on the boards of several housing and community development organizations and has been a featured speaker on legislative issues, government and politics at numerous governmental, industry and trade association conferences. He has been profiled in The Washington Post and in the authoritative Beacham’s Guide to Key Lobbyists. Mr. Rapoza is a graduate of Boston College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Jeff McMillen advises clients on federal tax and pension policy matters. Before joining Akin Gump, Mr. McMillen was the staff director of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Select Revenue measures, where he served under Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., and Subcommittee Chairman Jim McCrery, R-La. During his tenure with the committee, Mr. McMillen assisted in drafting the Energy Tax Policy Act of 2003, developing the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief and Reconciliation Act of 2003 and crafting the American Competiveness Act of 2002 and the Community Solution Act of 2001. Previously, he served on the staff of the Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight. Before joining the government, Mr. McMillen was the tax counselor for the 3,000-member American Electronics Association. Mr. McMillen received his juris doctor in 1994 from the Washington University School of Law, where he was the articles editor of the Washington University Law Quarterly, and his master’s degree in taxation from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2000.